Expert: Michelle Renee Krehl - 3/20/2009

Question
Ok someone has a question something like this before but I wanted to clarify some more. It is about the company Proscout. I also attended the open call/audition type thing a few months ago and got invited to attend the event is Kansas City. The cost of this event is $795 and the attendants are supposed to be in front of a number of top modeling agencies and casting directors. While I know you are not supposed to pay for representation from an agency, is it a risk to pay this fee to attend this event? Seeing that Proscout is not trying to act as an agency they said the fee is basically for getting the top names together in one room to see us!

Answer
Che,

While I would not go as far as calling Proscout a "scam", I am cannot advocate using a service such as this for several reasons:

1. Everyone who pays is invited to attend. The bottom line is it is a money making business, and the more who attend the better for them.

2. Many of the agencies do send representatives, but often they choose no one, and often the decision makers are not in attendence, they are working at their offices, booking work or submitting models to clients. And the ones they do choose (and it is less than about 2% of anyone who attends) could have saved the $$$ and attended an open call at the agency or online for free, or submitted by mail for the cost of postage. Agencies do not have to go out and look for talent, it is coming to them in droves.

3. Even if someone is selected to meet with an agency, usually they will only be interested in talent that is local to them. Ford NY is probably not going to be interested in representing an unknown model that needs to relocate (and they are not paying for this, or for your housing).

4. The economy is awful. Agencies are dropping models left and right, not many are aggressively looking for new talent. Some big agencies are folding (Irene Marie in Miami just closed it's doors, as have several others). Clients are losing advertising dollars and many are choosing to do product shots without models, or to forego using fit models and using mannequins instead when fine tuning designs. This does not bode well for new models.

There are more I could go into, but the bottom line is I do not recommend using this or other model search type of events or conventions. Submitting to agents is free, and they know that these things are basically giant cattle calls and a needle in a haystack proposition.

Google the words "proscout" and "scam" and see what comes up. I think that says a great deal. I would not do it.

Good luck to you!

Michelle